Formica
by AquilaTempestas
Summary: Who knew ants could be so fascinating? Ian certainly didn't.


**Disclaimer**

The rights to Beyblade belong to Takao Aoki.

**Title**

Formica

**Summary**

Who knew ants could be so fascinating? Ian certainly didn't.

**.**

The youngest member of the Blitzkrieg Boys placed his chin on the edges of the table, his eyes gazing curiously at the clear container before him. Never had he thought watching ants could be so entertaining. The tiny, black powerful creature ran across the sandy surface, scurrying around in any random direction. It didn't appear to have a sense of navigation; rather, it ran around the container touching other ants with its antennae, whilst carrying a small piece of bread crumb in its crushing mandibles.

He watched fascinated as another ant used its mandibles to dig a hole downwards, its mandibles appearing to work overtime as grains of dirt were moved aside. A hole quickly formed allowing the ant to move downwards to move more dirt. "This is amazing," the raven haired blader commented, his nose pressed up against the glassy window. "Gotta tell the others!" he commented and quickly left to find his friends.

It didn't take too long to find them. His teammates were simply lazing around on the sofas in the lounge, watching some show about Russian wildlife. Tala, the fiery red haired captain, arched a brow as the youngest member entered the room. "What's up midget?" he asked, watching him curiously. "You want some grog?" he asked, raising his bottle of Vodka in the air.

The dirty blond haired male sitting next to him sighed. "Tala, Ian's underage! He's not even fourteen and you are offering him drinks?" he asked in disbelief that Tala would ever suggest such a thing. "You can get fined for providing alcohol to minors."

Tala sighed and rolled his eyes. "You're such a party pooper, Spencer."

"I'm just looking out for the rest of us."

"I want to show you something!" Ian piped up, grabbing their attention.

"What is it?"

"You know that ant farm Bryan gave me for my birthday last year?" The boys nodded. "Well... I found some ants and now they're digging holes!"

"Cool," said Bryan, nodding his head thoughtfully. "Glad to know you my gift to good use."

"I never knew ants could be so fascinating!" he said happily, eyes wide with excitement. "I want to breed ants!"

"You need a Queen ant and a drone for that to occur," Spencer explained.

"Drone?" Ian asked, confused. Sounded like something from a sci-fic movie.

"It's a male ant," Tala offered helpfully. "They have wings."

"Red Bull gives you wings... da da da da da," sung Kai, waving his Red Bull can in the air. Usually, the blue haired blader wouldn't talk to anyone unless giving advice. However, he had warmed to his new team and even called them his friends.

Tala shook his head. "Here he goes again..."

"Kai... didn't I tell you to lay off the Red Bull?" questioned Spencer, blonde eyebrows narrowed.

Kai shrugged then glanced at Spencer apologetically. "I was thirsty. Red Bull was the only liquid related thing I could find in the fridge," he explained calmly. "Blame Byran – he was rostered to shop this weekend," he added, giving Bryan a sideways glance.

Bryan frowned. "I went last week... in your place," he countered.

Kai turned away and gazed at Ian instead. "How's the ant farm coming along?"

"Awesome!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, almost jumping up into the air. Kai wasn't surprised. Ian was usually fascinated by anything that moved. Still, it was good to him happy. "Can I show you the ants?" he asked.

Tala and the other team members nodded. "Sure, why not?" responded Tala, following Ian as he led them into the kitchen. "Should be interesting," he commented.

"So Bryan, when did you buy the ant farm?" Kai asked.

"Ian's birthday," he replied curtly. It was not something he wished to discuss.

"Ah," came Kai's simple response. "I remember that... do you remember?" he asked, enjoying the tortured expression on Bryan's face.

"Kai..." he said, through gritted teeth. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Aw, but it was so much fun!" Tala interjected. "Especially when you had to dress up as a clown and do the hoedown."

"And then he slipped on the pie Spencer had dropped," Kai added with a sinister grin.

"Guys! I thought we were meant to be checking out the ant farm, not talking about Bryan!" Spencer shouted, rubbing his temples. He didn't usually yell but at times like these, he had no choice.

Tala rolled his eyes. "You're such a spoilsport Spencer we were just having some fun."

Kai nudged Bryan with his elbow. "Weren't we Bryan?"

Bryan sighed and nodded. "Yeah, lots of fun," he muttered sarcastically.

Tala flashed Spencer a toothy grin. "See? He likes it."

Spencer buried his face into his hands. "Why me?" he mumbled.

Tala patted him on the back. "Cheer up big guy, Ian has an ant farm to show us."

Unsure of what just happened Ian shook his head and ran over to the kitchen counter where the ant farm was placed. "Hey!" he yelled suddenly. "The hole is deeper!" he exclaimed, pointing at the ant that was digging earlier. "I'm going to call him 'George'."

"George?"

Ian nodded happily. "George is a good name isn't it for an ant."

"Call it... Formica," Spencer said, earning a confused glance from the rest. "It's Latin for ant."

"Since when did you speak Latin?" Tala asked ice blue eyes narrowed.

Spencer shrugged. "Several months."

Silence. Then... "odd," commented Tala. "I thought I knew you well but I don't. What else are you hiding?"

Spencer rolled his eyes. "I'm not hiding anything Tala..."

"Okay, so the ant is now called Formica!" Ian declared, placing a hand over his heart.

"Wouldn't they all be called Formica? I mean, if what Spencer says is true then all the ants would be called Formica," reasoned Kai.

Ian shrugged then shook his head. "Nah, this one is special."

Silence fell between the Blitzkrieg Boys as they examined the ant farm on the kitchen bench. No one said a word, no one moved a muscle – they were captivated by the ants and their digging activities.

.

This one took me three days to write... not all in one go of course. I spent about an hour each of those days to write this. And once again, no editing occurred. Your thoughts are much appreciated!


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